To people having trouble visualising this: that's 195kg or thirty stone, to 145kg or 23st. That's .. really quite a lot.
> I shouldn't feel the need to change anything about myself
The problem is there's no real relation between how heavy someone is and how much pressure they apply to themselves. If you feel better at 300lb than 400lb, won't you feel better at 200lb? How about 150lb? 100lb? There's a lot of really quite light people who engage in disordered eating because they feel the drive to be lighter and lighter to be more attractive.
> feel the drive to be lighter and lighter to be more attractive.
Gaining and maintaining some muscle is clearly beneficial (and is actually much easier to do for a significant fraction of the population) but somehow this "lightness" paradigm is so pervasive... And anorexia even doesn't look good imo.
Very interesting, and I generally agree. In other words, how much is enough? If the drug works at 320 but works but works even better at 220, will you succumb to that pressure?
What's troubling is the resulting distortion field. I would love to unpack the brain of someone with disordered eating to hear their thoughts for myself. But also the guy at the gym that's devouring supplements, taking selfies, and wearing a skimpy gym tank to stare at and show off muscles. What's going on in that guy's head?
That said, it is a real and meaningful accomplishment to lose 100 pounds. To that guy, do what you need to do to feel healthy, happy, and confident.
Hoping I don't develop an eating disorder in the process of losing weight is a constant thing on my mind. I've had to deeply cut my calories to keep losing. I don't even really noticing myself experiencing hunger at this point which kinda scares me. But all my vitals are great, the fat keeps coming off, and I haven't really noticed much change in my strength in the gym so maybe I'm fine so far?
My roommate/gym buddy is one of the people you describe and while I can't see inside his head, the story he usually tells is that he was once super overweight (he's 5'11 and said he hit 350) and turned into a proper gym rat to lose it. I don't know how much he weighs now but he's got defined abs and large arms. He said that he's basically addicted to the attention he gets as a super fit person. He's charismatic and funny (and a cognitive behavioral therapist), but he basically seems to sleep with whoever he wants. The amount of times I've heard him say he really wants to get laid that night and then see him crawl in at 3 am with yet another (attractive) woman is nutty.
To people having trouble visualising this: that's 195kg or thirty stone, to 145kg or 23st. That's .. really quite a lot.
> I shouldn't feel the need to change anything about myself
The problem is there's no real relation between how heavy someone is and how much pressure they apply to themselves. If you feel better at 300lb than 400lb, won't you feel better at 200lb? How about 150lb? 100lb? There's a lot of really quite light people who engage in disordered eating because they feel the drive to be lighter and lighter to be more attractive.